Display device



y 1966 T. M. M DONNELL 3,250,235

DISPLAY DEVICE Filed March 12, 1965 INVENTOR.

Thomas 772. 7?? fDonneZZ BYZ United States Patent Office 3,250,235 Patented May 10, 1966 3,250,235 DISPLAY DEVICE Thomas M. McDonnell, 836 S. Ridgeland Ave., Oak Park, Ill. Filed Mar. 12, 1965, Ser. No. 439,165 1 Claim. (Cl. 108-152) This invention relates to a display device and more particularly to an improved and novel mounting arrangement for supporting a shelf from a standard perforated panel having a plurality of spaced holes.

The invention comprehends an arrangement for detachably mounting a horizontal display shelf on a vertical panel in such a manner as will permit the shelf to be rotated in a horizontal plane to any desired position.

In the display of merchandise in retail stores it is not only desirable but essential that the shelf arrangements employed be versatile in the sense that they can be used in several Ways by easy adjustment to different positions and locations. I

For several years it has been common practice to provide vertically adjustable shelves by supporting them on brackets removably positioned in vertically disposed standards or columns having a plurality of vertically spaced slots.

This type of mounting arrangement is satisfactory for many purposes, but it lacks versatility in that the shelves cannot be moved laterally.

Recently the use of panels to support items for display has come into widespread use, but even with these mounting arrangements the items cannot be moved Without removing the supporting brackets from the panel and replacing them in another location.

It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide a novel and improved arrangement for pivotally supporting a horizontal shelf on a vertical panel so as to permit the shelf to be moved in a horizontal plane to any desired position.

A more specific object is to provide, in an arrangement of the type described, a mounting bracket adapted to be removably positioned on a perforated panel and adapted to rotatably mount a shelf supporting arm.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from an examination of the following description and drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a display device embodying features of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the structure illustrated in FIGURE 1, with portions of the structure shown in vertical section taken on line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary vertical section taken on line 33 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged perspective of the bracket illustrated in FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 5 is it fragmentary top plan view of a position of the structure illustrated in FIGURE 1 to show various positions of the shelf.

It will be understood that certain elements have intentionally been omitted from certain views where they are illustrated to better advantages in other views.

Referring now to the drawing for a better understanding of .the invention, it will be seen in FIGURE 1 that a horizontal shelf is affixed to a supporting member 12 which is' rotatably mounted in a mounting bracket 14 removably attached to a conventional panel 16.

' preferably an L-shaped bar including a generally cylindrical vertical arm 20 rotatably mounted in a manner hereinafter described and having extending laterally outward from its upper extremity an integrally formed horizontal arm 22 which may also be cylindrical but which preferably has adjacent its free outer ends a recessed or flattened area 24.

Horizontal arm 22 is received within a bore 26 extending laterally into the side shelf 10, and may be non-rotatably secured therein by means of an adhesive compound 28 which surrounds the arm and fills in the space between the inside surface of the bore and the recessed or flattened area 24 of the supporting member arm 22.

Referring now to FIGURE 4, it will be seen that mounting bracket 14 which rotata-bly receives support member vertical arm 20 is generally U-shaped, as seen from the side, and com-prises a relatively thin, flat, vertical front plate 30 having preferably formed integrally with and extending rearwardly from the upper and lower extremities therefrom a pair of relatively thin, flat, horizontal upper and lower plates 32 and 34, respectively, which are provided with aligned holes 36 for rotatably receiving support member vertical arm 20.

Front plate 30 may also be provided with a threaded hole 38 adapted to receive a set screw 39 for engagement with vertical arm 20 to prevent vertical or rotational movement of the arm within the mounting bracket once the shelf has been placed in the desired location.

As seen in FIGURE 1, panel 16 may :be of the conventional type which is readily available and which comprises a relatively thin flat panel provided with a. plurality of holes spaced vertically and horizontally from each other in uniformly aligned and spaced horizontal and vertical rows.

Still referring to FIGURE 1, it will be seen that upper and lower plates 32 and 34 have formed integrally therewith and projecting from the rear corners thereof pairs of upper and lower lugs 40 and 42, respectively, which are spaced from each other for alignment with appropriate related holes 50 of the panel.

Lower lugs 42 preferably project straight out from lower plate 32; whereas, upper lugs 40 have their outer. extremities bent upwardly to engage the rear surface of the panel, as shown in FIGURE 1, and thereby removably retain the mounting bracket in any desired position on the panel.

In order to position the display device the mounting bracket is tipped forward so that lugs 40 and 42 can be inserted into the desired holes of the panel. The mounting bracket is then lowered to a horizontal position and the shelf is swung laterally and raised or lowered to the desired position and the set screw 39 tightened against the mounting member vertical arm 20 to maintain the shelf in fixed position.

What is claimed is:

In a shelf arrangement, the combination of:

(a) a shelf having a cylindrical bore extending inwardly thereinto from an outer surface thereof;

(b) a shelf supporting arm extending into said bore to support said shelf;

(c) said arm being cylindrical and having an outer diameter of a dimension slightly less than the dimension of the inner diameter of shelf bore to permit the insertion of the former into the latter;

(d) said arm having a flattened surface on one side thereof extending axially of said arm;

(e) an adhesive material disposed in said' shelf bore between said flattened surface of the arm and the adjacent cylindrical surface of said shelf bore and adhering to .said arm and said shelf to prevent the rotation of the arm Within said shelf bore.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 964,078 7/1910 Winans t 297-142 Df-OSlIl 24828 OConnor 248223 Trautner 248289 X Curtis 30-9 Larson 248225 X Massey 108-152 X Mann l08152 FRANKB. SHERRY, Primry Examiner. 10 J. T. MCCALL, Assistant Examiner. 

